A MACHINE gun used in the New Year party shootings which left two young women dead has been recovered in Liverpool, it emerged today.

The MAC-10 machine pistol was handed in at a police station in November 2007 during a firearms crackdown that followed the murder of schoolboy Rhys Jones.

Scientific tests by experts at a new firearms forensic unit linked it to the shooting by comparing it with ballistic material recovered from the scene of the murders of Charlene Ellis and Letisha Shakespeare in January 2003.

It was not the machine pistol that fired the fatal burst of shots which killed Charlene, 18, and Letisha, 17, outside the New Year’s Day party at the Uniseven salon, Aston, but it revealed to police two MAC-10s were used in the shooting.

Tests also linked it to other crimes in both Birmingham and Manchester.

Details of the find emerged during the launch of the CSI-style National Ballistics Intelligence Service (NABIS), which will for the first time be able to link guns to crimes and also provide police intelligence of who and where the gun might be connected to.

Det Chief Insp David Mirfield, from West Midlands Police, who led the murder case, said: “We went to see the individual found in possession of the weapon to see how he came by it. It appears the weapon has just been passed on. Guns are leant out, they are rented. It’s a myth the streets are swamped by weapons, which is why we are seeing armed gangs using quite antiquated and old guns.”

Mr Mirfield said NABIS would prove crucial in providing a history of a weapon and its links to other crimes much faster than the months it could have taken previously. “A gun fired in Birmingham can be linked to one fired in any other area in the UK within a short space of time, giving us the opportunity to gather evidence and intelligence far quicker than before.”

A room at the Birmingham-based ballistics lab has been named after the two girls and for their mothers it marked an important moment in the fight against a culture of guns.

Beverley Thomas, mother of Charlene, said: “It has been six years since the tragedy happened. This is one of the greatest thing to happen out of the 2003 shooting.”

Letisha’s mum, Marcia Shakespeare, said: “We feel very honoured something positive is being done in the girls’ memories and that police have opened this centre to improve the development of evidence. A lot of people don’t realise it’s been six years but it is a life sentence for us. This is not a life sentence where the perpetrators will serve 35 years. It began in 2003 and will not disappear until I die.”

* Four men were later found guilty of murdering the teenagers and jailed for life. Three were ordered to serve at least 35 years and one at least 27 years before they could be considered for parole.